1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to vision systems or other imaging systems.
2. Description of Related Art
Measurements performed with a vision system involve some form of interaction between the operator of the vision system and the vision system. The operator can interact with the vision system at several levels. One particular interaction occurs when the operator sets up an object to be viewed by the vision system. The vision system images the object using an optical system and an image acquisition device and displays the acquired image. Often during setup, the operator must change, either manually or automatically, one or more of the magnification levels of the vision system, the location of the optical system relative to the object and/or the objects and/or the amount of light used to illuminate the object.
To acquire specific images of an object at various magnifications may require the physical location of the optical system field of view relative to the object be determined. One conventional way to determine the location of the optical system field of view relative to the object is to observe the shape of the portion of the object imaged by the optical system. However, determining the location of the field of view relative to the object by observing the shape of the portion of the object imaged by the optical system alone can be especially difficult when the vision system views the object at high magnification levels, and especially when there are several similar shapes on the object.
Another conventional way to determine the location of the optical system field of view relative to the object includes visually observing and gauging the location of the optical microscope axis in relation to the workpiece. However, determining the location of the optical system field of view relative to the object by solely observing the location of the center of the optical microscope axis in relation to the workpiece is also especially difficult when the vision system views the object at high magnification levels.
Yet another way to determine the location of the optical system field of view relative to the object includes illuminating the field of view orthogonally with bright field lighting and observing the location of a small-diameter light spot on the object. However, bright field light of a sufficient level to produce adequate light scattering intended for observation by the human eye normally saturates the vision system""s image acquisition device. This precludes simultaneously viewing any image details produced by the image acquisition device, thus making it difficult to determine the location of the optical system relative to the object.
Still another way to determine the location of the optical system relative to the object is to diffusely illuminate the object using dark-field lighting such as a ring light. However, the disproportionately large illumination field thereby produced relative to the image acquisition device viewing field makes it difficult to determine the location on the object of the optical system field of view.
This invention provides systems and methods for indicating the field of view of an optical system on the workpiece so that the indication can be viewed by the human eye.
This invention separately provides systems and methods that indicate the field of view of the optical system on the workpiece while simultaneously allowing a portion of the object to be imaged by the optical system and the image acquisition device.
This invention separately provides systems and methods for indicating the field of view of the imaging system on the workpiece using some of the imaging optics of the vision system, but without interfering with the image provided by the imaging optics of the vision system.
In various exemplary embodiments of the systems and methods according to this invention, the location of the field of view of an imaging or vision system is indicated by generating an indicator light using at least one of the one or more light sources of the imaging system. The indicator light is transmitted along a projection path. The indicator light is output along the projection path onto the workpiece in a region indicative of the field of view of the imaging system.
These and other forms and advantages of this invention are described in or are apparent from the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments of the systems and methods according to this invention.